Beginning at 9 am this morning, volunteers began arriving at the Old School House Art Gallery Work Bee equipped with rakes, ladders, paint brushes, scrapers, drills, hammers, chain saws, shovels, weed whackers, brooms, buckets, rags and a whole garden of greenery to plant..., in preparation for the Old Schoolhouse gallery season beginning July 2. The scene was well prepared and efficiently organized by Janet Turpin and Lynne Barker with a list of projects to tackle and all the paint, lumber, and sandpaper ready to use and new flourescent lights ready to install.

On my arrival around ten-thirty, three weed whackers were in full throttle with Richard, Ray and someone fully obscured by a face protector, creating noisy circles of flying leaves.

About thirty people had gathered by around 11 am when the activity level really began to hum. I noticed that Richard (Mr. Photo) was busy with a weed whacker so I got my camera out to do a quick documentation of all the chores getting done. Since I seemed somewhat unoccupied compared to the rest of the busy bees, various folks would call to me to bring a paint brush, trim back some branches, find a drill. In the end I got focussed on removing old broom bushes from near the road.

Meanwhile Carol, Cali, Diane and Leila had created lovely flower beds on either side of the stairs to the deck. Krister and Beth had thoroughly washed down the porch, porch railings and portico in preparation for painting. Jeremy had sanded the flag pole, Mary-Lu had sanded and painted a sign panel, and Donna and John had prepped all the exterior window frames for painting. Cathleen and Brigid chatted while they painted a selection of new cedar trim. Inside Gabriel installed the new flourescents, while Greg, Chris and a very handy fellow in a white cap, rebuilt window frames, cut glass and regrouted. Jodi removed forgotten art creations, cleaned and vacuumed the storage space at the back. Alden installed the new screen door.

Later, while a few of us snacked, I noticed Alden and Norberto cutting 2 x 4's with a chop saw. Circling beyond us, Ben did a great job of trimming the large field with his mower.

There were other folks milling about and lending a hand here and there and by 1 pm, a great many jobs had been thoroughly rousted. There's always more to do though and I hear that informal work bees may gather to do specific jobs that are yet to complete.

I've been a bit focused on my own world for awhile so it felt especially nice to be part of a group effort. I contributed. I had fun, ate some chips, caught up on news, made an appointment with someone to visit our Gallery, and generally basked in the sun and good energy. Well done, Old Schoolhouse Gallery! See you at the opening on July 2!